A while ago I was asked "What's the most interesting character in gaming?" for a moment, I thought Narcissu's Himeko before I said: "No she isn't." And changed the topic.
But suddenly I thought. "Why I thought about her in a question like this?" I wrote the reasons I found and they work as a steemit article so here we go!!
Narcissu 2nd Side
Himeko is the heroine of the Kinetic Novel: Narcissu 2nd Side, which I reviewed a while back. and she's is the main focus of the the side story Himeko's epilogue. This post will touch on both Visual Novels.
Narcissu series, a minimalist Novel in form of a game, the story is about life and death and coping with the loss. The characters all have terminal illness and the games question isn’t “If or why they will die?” The games question is “How and where they will die?” and more importantly “How they use their final days?”
The second game gives us Himeko, a very cheerful girl in her early twenties. She’s from a catholic family, likes plain clothes, and have a tsundere best friend. She just bought a car when she went to the hospital and found out about her illness.
The irony is that she was a helper in the same hospital. But she quit, she was only helping because her catholic family made her do so, and she isn’t catholic anymore.
After moving to the 7th floor (the hospice, a place where you wait for your death) she told both her sister and best friend to not meet her in the hospital again.
There she met the protagonist of the game (Setsumi which will become the heroine of the first game, as this game is a prequel.) She cheerfully told the girl she’s going to die soon, and they had a strange relationship.
Why I Love Himeko's Character
For someone whose days are numbered, she’s strong, Too strong!!
She had her last days up until her death planned, She thought of all the routes her friends might take after her death and planned accordingly. She holds a lot of power on the nurses in the hospital. She goes to every place in her Pajamas, and she fought then made up with God!!
- Few Years ago:
When she was a helper in the hospital, she was assinged to a dying young girl. She had to lie to her, to tell her that her parents will come back (They couldn’t anymore.) She had to tell her that she’ll get better, and she thought her how to pray…
But the girl didn’t get better and started to lose faith, Himeko broke every rule for the girl’s sake, and let her go to the hospital’s roof. Because maybe the god didn’t hear her prayers inside the closed hospital room. She wanted to pray in a high place.
As the girl prayed, Himeko couldn’t fight her tears, she told her to stop.. She’s gonna die and even God won’t help her, so “Stop Praying.” The girl told her that she knew she’s going to die either way… She wasn’t praying for herself.
She was praying that Himeko continues to smile after she’s gone.
The one who dies, the one who follows them. And the one left behind losing the other two… Which one of those you’d rather be?
That left Himeko broken.
She quit her job as helper, she refused to identify as a christian anymore. How can she worship a God that let such suffering happen?
- Being Kind by Being Harsh:
"Not letting others know you don’t like what they’re doing so they don’t feel bad. That’s not kindness."
Fast forward to the game’s time, She accepted her illness as a punishment for that, for not being able to do anything to the girl before. She became friends with Setsumi, she taught her many things.
Himeko’s cheerfulness in contrasted by her determined way of speaking, she’s very decisive and knows when to be harsh. She forbid her friends from seeing her because she didn’t want them to remember her in her weakest state.
She’s not above slapping a person without warning when they do something wrong.
- The Most Powerful Woman Alive:
In the 7th floor, Himeko was given unusual freedom, there isn’t a helper assinged to her, and she was allowed to get out of the floor by herself.
She’s on good terms with all the doctors and some even obey her orders, she’s the only patient in the whole hospital who have that power.
All of this, partly because she was a good helper in the hospital before and she was senior to some of them, partly because she’s (supposed to be) a catholic who won’t do anything the hospital considers bad (like harming oneself.)
- Fake Catholic, Devoted Christian:
Praying, for a better world.
Through the story her sister says “She’s devoted Christian” more than once. All Himeko’s actions actions make sense in that regard.
She’s always wants the better for everyone, she believes in God so much that she wants her belief to be validated, to know that “Yes, God is still watching…” “Yes, there is a meaning in all that suffering.” “Yes, miracles can still happen.”
The 10th thing in her list to do before her death is to find a place high enough to do something. (Setsumi thought she’s going to commit suicide.) She sneaked out of the hospital and dragged Setsumi with her as a “witness.”
She wanted the highest place possible, so she decided to go to Mt. Fuji. How would she go there without a GPS in the car? She memorized all the Japanese roads in the last year. You see, she had a map she reads daily, so she won’t get lost in her way.
After climbing the mountain (which was hard as they both were sick) she stood there, and prayed.., for the first time in long. She told God everything in her mind the last years, she asked God to not let people suffer anymore, and if they were to suffer, to make it easier for them.
She had Setsumi a witness, and asked her to return here to complain in her place if God didn’t answer that. Once again she didn’t pray for herself but the ones left behind.
- The Best Best Friend Ever:
From the side VN: Himeko Epilogue.
After that, she told setsumi to stop seeing her, but she learned from her it’s okay to have friends in the 7th floor. She told her best friend Yuka to visit her from that day on, until her death.
In her last days Himeko worked a plan to make her best friend Yuka strong so she can live without her. She knew that her friend acted strong but is full of insecurities.
She sent a cute dress to Setsumi and gave a envelope containing a map to her sister, knowing that Setsumi will give the dress to her sister and get the map from her.
Himeko intuited that Setsumi will have the same fate as her, and she wanted her to make the right choice. (Whether that happened or not? play the Narcissu 1 in which the envelope will play important role.)
Conclusion
I like how Himeko narrated in the story, a strong woman, you never want to be on her bad side. She has a unique perspective on kindness, she acts cheerful but holds conflicted inside, and she really tries to find her place in the world. No wonder why she crossed my mind when I was thinking about gaming's interesting characters.